U.S. Ambassador to China Burns claimed: "China has no plans to cooperate with the United States in lunar exploration."In response, China National Space Administration spokesperson Xu Hongliang publicly responded that the Chinese government has always insisted on exploring and using outer space for peaceful purposes, conducting international space exchanges and cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, peaceful use, and inclusive development, and actively promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind in the outer space field.
China attaches great importance to international cooperation in the aerospace field, and has always maintained an open and inclusive attitude towards exchanges in the aerospace field with the United States. We welcome people from the scientific research community in various countries, including the United States, to apply to us in appropriate ways and channels in accordance with China's published lunar sample application methods.
Xu Hongliang pointed out:"But what confuses me is that on the one hand, the United States keeps talking about cooperation and application, but on the other hand, some people highly admire the 'Wolf Clause' that restricts cooperation with China's aerospace industry, and have said on different occasions that the 'Wolf Clause' should be made permanent. I don't understand whether the US side is playing word games and kicking the ball."
As early as 2006, the space agencies of China and the United States established a working group mechanism for aerospace cooperation on earth science, space science and other areas, and conducted many communications on areas of common interest.
butIn 2011, the United States introduced the so-called "Wolf Clause", which almost completely interrupted the exchanges between the Chinese and American space agencies., and even did not allow Chinese aerospace scholars to go to the United States to participate in international aerospace conferences and other activities, "forcing" China's aerospace industry to embark on a path of complete independence.
In 2015, the United States proposed that the U.S. State Department take the lead in establishing a Sino-U.S. civil aerospace dialogue mechanism. China responded positively and has held three dialogue meetings so far. However, the fourth meeting originally planned to be hosted by the United States has not yet been held, and China has repeatedly promoted it to no avail.
In fact, there have been strong calls in the United States to cancel the "Wolf Clause" and restart cooperation with China in lunar exploration and deep space. Many colleagues in the international community also call on the United States to remove the "Wolf Clause" as a stumbling block.
Xu Hongliang pointed out,Currently, the China National Space Administration has signed more than 170 cooperation agreements or memoranda of understanding with more than 50 countries, space agencies and international organizations on behalf of the Chinese government.
This includes cooperation with major space powers such as Russia and France, as well as cooperation with developing countries such as Brazil and Pakistan;
There is cooperation on major projects in the field of lunar and deep space exploration such as Chang'e 4 and Tianwen 1, as well as cooperation in the field of earth observation such as China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite and China-France Ocean Satellite.
Xu Hongliang emphasized that China has never had any document, regulation, or clause restricting cooperation between China and the United States.
It is worth mentioning that just a few days ago, the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made a rare application to study lunar soil samples from China's Chang'e 5.
NASA said that this application for research is "necessary" not only because China's lunar soil samples have "unique value", but also because the Chang'e-5 lunar scientific research samples have recently been opened to international applications for scientists from various countries to jointly study and share results, which will ensure that American researchers and scientists from around the world have the same research opportunities.